Yet Hope Remains
by Catherine or Cate
Summary: COMPLETE CharlieHermione fic. Charlie perspective of Hermione's return. Includes flashbacks. Just read it. Oneshot!


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AN – Credit to JRR Tolkien for the title of this story and/or the subsequent films that were dedicated to his fictional adventures. Everything else you recognise belongs to JK Rowling herself and the tales she has spun. I believe the plot and a few minor characters are mine and mine alone.

ChW/HrG fic. Reviews appreciated. There are flashbacks in this story.

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Yet hope remains…

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The Ministry had been destroyed early on in the Second War against Voldemort and his Death Eater minions, as had the Golden Trio. Ronald Weasley had died with a sacrificial deed, protecting his sister Ginevra from madwoman Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione Granger, Ron's former girlfriend and Harry Potter became stronger than steel after their friends death, more intent on ending things one and for all.

Nevertheless, behind the scenes the story was very different. Harry and Hermione both struggled to keep their proverbial selves afloat. Behind the scenes, the pillars of the light were slowly falling apart, often using physical methods to keep themselves from loosing their sanity, Harry with Ginny, Hermione with Charles Weasley.

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'One day,' Hermione promised Charlie as she slipped out of his bed. 'One day it will be more than just an escape.'

'More than, just, sex?'

'One day will come,' Hermione assured. Then, as always, she was gone.

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It had taken three long years to defeat Voldemort and in the process the wizarding world had been torn asunder.

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Charlie Weasley rolled out of his bed in the overly large house he had bought and begun to renovate in the Scottish country side. Stumbling into the bathroom he pulled off his pyjama pants and stepped into the hot spray of the shower letting the barrage of water attack his back like needles. As the torrents woke him fully Charlie blinked owlishly pushing his lengthening hair back out of his eyes. Finally, he straightened and began to shower in earnest.

Moving downstairs into the kitchen, Charlie knocked up a large breakfast for himself, clad only in his too long jeans and the brown plaited leather necklace that had a baby dragons tooth hanging from it. His hair dried slowly as he ate his eggs before he dumped the dishes and pans into the sink and headed back up stairs.

Heading for his dresser Charlie fastened on his watch and slipped a cuff over his other wrist. He then quickly cleaned his teeth and pulled on a shirt the same colour as the freckles on his nose. Grabbing a worn brown leather cloak, that would not be needed later in the day, Charlie threw it around his shoulders, fastened it and apparated away.

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_Charlie dragged himself into the living room of one of the safe houses hoping that no- one else was there. He, as he always, had chosen one of the more peculiar hideouts, which had become more of a third home for him. Everywhere he looked he could see his small touches on the rooms, and the small touches belonging to the woman he was waiting for._

_Hermione stepped through the fireplace thirty minutes later her medi-kit in hand._

'_I saw you evacuate and knew that you wouldn't have gone for help at HQ.'_

'_You're getting to know me well, then,' Charlie grinned letting the young woman help him out of his shirt. She just smiled and continued tending to the large cut across his shoulder and back._

'_At this rate you will end up with more scars than freckles,' Hermione said in a way that projected the frown that rested on her pretty face._

'_As long as I don't end up dead,' Charlie replied, gasping as he shrugged._

'_You better not, Charles Weasley,' Hermione snapped moving around to face him. 'I'm not quite sure what I would do without anyone around to keep my feet grounded.'_

'_You've always been my rock,' Charlie smiled. 'Dinner?'_

'_Something light,' Hermione responded, sinking into the lounge as Charlie rose and moved into the kitchen._

_They had both become well acquainted with the dance they were always performing and perfecting. Run to the safe house after the battle or skirmish. Tend to each other's wounds. Say light words about how much the other really means. Eat. Compliment the chef. Fall into each other's arms, let one thing lead to another and exhaust each other as passion rules. In the morning, go for another round or two. Eat and say '__jusqu'a__ prochain', so the cycle can begin again._

_The dance went perfectly, Hermione and Charlie had eaten a light meal of salad, steak and chips before their lips had connected with the familiar electricity. They were asleep in a tangle of sheets when the message had come through and they had both scrambled to be by Harry's side as the final showdown began._

'_Hermione!' Charlie had called out with a haggard whisper as they prepared to floo to where they were needed. 'Take care.'_

_Blue eyes met brown before Hermione caused their lips to crash together. 'If this ends, I will leave tonight like I always planned. Charlie, you have to have faith and know that I will return as I have promised.'_

'_I'll wait. I'll hope.'_

'_I love you.'_

'_I love you. Go!'_

_The fire flared green as Hermione left. A moment later it flared again as Charlie ploughed into the battle._

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Charlie was sitting on the steps of Gringotts Bank, one day, mid- August like he had done once a year, every year since Hermione, Harry and Ginny had vanished. He sat there with incredible patience, from dawn, til dusk, his cloak folded under his bottom.

It was now the fifth year.

'Mr Weasley?' a small boy said quietly calling Charlie's attention to him.

'Yes?'

'Do you mind if I sat with you for a while yo… we waited?'

Charlie looked down at the brown haired boy, looking up at him with grey eyes from beneath his long fringe.

'Sure. Why not?'

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_Charlie looked at the folded letter written on Muggle paper with a Muggle pen trying to suppress the sense of loss inside his chest._

"_Charles," it read. _

"_Harry and Ginny have left. We all know that they won't be coming back for a long time. I am leaving too, giving you this cheats goodbye because, I fear, if I saw you my resolve would crumble and I'd never leave. However, I must. I need to this for my mental sanity. Before it all goes._

_Charlie, thank you for being my lifeline. You don't know just how much your presence has meant to me. How being wrapped in your arms has healed me. It's time that I did something, but to do it, I must be on my own._

_I won't ever write but I'll be in touch from time to time. If you send letters to Georgia Hadden they will find me and I will accept them gladly. Know that I will return and that day will be our 'one day'._

_I think I love you._

_I know I love you._

_Hermione."_

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'Who do you wait for, Mr Weasley?'

'I don't wait, my little friend. I sit and hope.'

'Who do you hope for?'

'Hermione. My sister, Ginny. Harry.'

'My dad says they are dead.'

'They aren't.'

'How do you know?'

'I just do.'

'How?'

'I write letters and then they leave me clues.'

'How do you know it's them?'

'I know it's them because, I still have hope.'

The boy nodded thoughtfully. 'I'm going to ask Dad for some ice cream. Would you like a sundae?'

'That would be great.'

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_Charlie opened the door of his apartment and immediately went on guard. Carefully, and quietly he closed the door so that if it came down to using magic, his Muggles neighbours wouldn't know. Wand raised he looked around._

_Everything had been moved and rearranged. It had been done precisely, perfectly, his furniture, his appliances, his books and CDs. _

_On his kitchen table there were stacks of CDs and books that Charlie knew weren't his. With them was an inch high stack of black and white photographs. Charlie snatched up the images and flipped through them trying to decipher their message. _

_One photo that caught his eye was of an out of focus woman holding an in focus baby with dark hair. Charlie would have sworn the infant's hair was black and the child of Harry Potter, but the woman wasn't his little sister. The next photo was of a blurred couple that looked like Ginny and her husband bathing the same child. Then watching the little girl as she slept in her crib. Charlie smiled. Hermione was with his niece._

_The photographs soon changed theme and became stills of captured sunsets from across the world at famous Muggle destinations that Charlie vaguely recognised._

_Charlie turned the photo to see the image of the main house at a Magical estate he had visited months before hand. The owner was his 'uncle', an old bachelor who had dedicated his life to dragons. The following photos confused Charlie. There was a photo of the two armchairs in the den of the Manor in Southern Scotland, exactly how he remembered it. In the next image was a third armchair. The fourth photo was of a Gringotts key. The fifth of magical transfer of ownership documents. The final photo of the series was of his own Gringotts vault door._

_Charlie slumped down into a chair at the table and looked around at the other items on the table. Pulling a folder towards him he opened it to find the ownership documents and a bank statements for his Gringotts account. The bank page showed his initial balance followed by a deposit from a vault 1180, Hermione's account, of an amount that would allow him to purchase the estate in the photos._

_Looking around, more closely, Charlie noted that many of the books were about magical renovations, restoration, warding and all were marked with post-it notes._

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'Mr Weasley?'

'Yes.'

'What will you do if they don't come?'

Charlie looked down at his empty ice cream sundae bowl before responding. 'I'll come back next year.'

'Just like that.'

'Just like that.'

'Mr Weasley?'

'Yes.'

'I have to go home.'

'That's ok. You go. Thanks for sitting with me.'

'I was hoping. And I'll keep hoping for you.'

'Thank you. It's good to know that someone else has hope.'

'Goodbye, Mr Weasley.'

'Goodbye.'

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_Charlie stood by the wooden boundary fence as the eldest and most protective dragons on the reserve worked themselves into a frenzy._

'_What's wrong with them?'_

'_I don't know, Seth. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Blaze and DD were getting ready to protect us all.'_

'_From someone or something?'_

'_Good question.'_

'_There's probably a poor bunny too close to the ward line because the only person to get past the wards on this place would be a dragon handler or someone who reads way too much.'_

_Charlie's head snapped up._

'_Something wrong, Boss?'_

'_I'll be right back, Seth,' Charlie assured walking away from the dragons and crowd of dragon handlers, back toward the residential area._

_As he walked tension ran through Charlie and he picked up his pace, vaguely aware someone was following him. Walk, quick walk, slow jog, jog, run. Nearing his cottage he saw the door wide open and the lights illuminating the area in a golden glow. In the background Blaze roared one final time and Seth caught up with the older man._

_Charlie drew his wand and approached the door way, Seth half a step behind. Cautiously entering his home Charlie quickly took stock. The pot that contained the floo powder wasn't in it's normal place on the mantle but in the centre of his table, the lid off and a note propped against it._

_Not lowering his wand, Charlie entered the room walking over to the fireplace and the trail of floo powder that snaked it's was from the pot on the table to the hearth. Turning Charlie snatched up the thick card and looked at the words printed on it neatly._

'_Charlie, the dragons are calm. What do you think that means?' Seth asked looking around his wand out but held uncomfortably in front of him._

'_The person who was here is gone.'_

'_Someone was here? What are you smiling about?' the young keeper asked Charlie. 'Did you get a love note?'_

'_No. No love notes,' Charlie replied shaking his head._

'_Then what does it say?'_

'_Weasley Family Day,' the red head whispered, his heart swelling at the thought._

'_What's that meant to mean?' Seth asked snatching the card from Charlie's fingers._

'_Nothing to you, Seth. Absolutely nothing to you.'_

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As the sun dropped over the rooftops of the stores of Diagon Alley Charlie began to pace back and forth in front of the bank.

Hundreds of Summer evening shoppers and diners filled the street as the work day ended and relaxing hours of twilight began. Nervously, Charlie threw on his old leather cloak and continued with his vigil, as he had always done.

As light faded further a soft hand touched his arm. And a purple haired woman joined him, dressed in a similar coat.

'Charlie, what is different this year?' Tonks asked.

'My instincts.'

'What are they telling you?'

'To wait as I promised I would.'

'How would Harry and Ginny and Hermione know?'

'They know. Hermione will be here. It's Weasley Family Day. She, in the very least will be here. Harry, Ginny and the babies, I'm not sure.'

'How do you know that they have babies?' Tonks asked.

'I know because I never stopped hoping,' Charlie said crossing his arms and looking directly down the Alley at the opening. 'What time is it?'

'Almost nine.'

'Thank you.'

Tonks moved away silently to where a handful of other people in similar cloaks stood to one side of the bank steps. Charlie remained half way up looking over the Alley.

Then it happened.

The crowd parted and Charlie smiled.

Leaping down off the steps Charlie began to run through the crowd the hood of his cloak falling off as he rushed towards the group, pushing shoppers out of his way. Half way up the Alley the group and Charlie met.

'Weasley Family Day.'

'One day.'

The crowd watched as one of the cloaked and hooded figures threw themself at Charlie who grabbed on and held tight.

'One day. You promise?'

'I promise. I promise with every fibre of my being, Charles.'

Charlie let go and faced the hooded woman, his hands slipping in and cupping her face before he leant in and soundly kissed her. Her arm drifted up and pulled back the hood before wrapping around his neck, despite the gasps of the crowd.

'Alright, that's enough,' one of the remaining cloaked figures snapped passing on the hand of the small child to the other final adult. 'It's my turn.'

'Why is it your turn?' Hermione asked from against Charlie's lips.

'Because it would be better for all involved if you two did that at home and I want to hug my brother.'

'She has a point, love,' Charlie chuckled pushing Hermione's hair out of her face and Hermione sighed in displeasure. 'Hood off, Gin Gin.'

The red headed woman threw off her hood and hugged her brother fiercely. 'I have missed you, so much, Charlie.'

'I missed you too, Gin.'

Ginny let go and stepped back.

'There's some small people I want you to meet.'

'Not just in photos?'

'For real this time.'

Charlie smiled, not caring that all of Diagon Alley was watching the scene with varying degrees of shock and amazement.

'This is my daughter, Maia and my new son Helios,' Ginny said taking a bundle from the man and pulling down the hood of the little girl.

'One like their mother and one like their father.'

'And just as much trouble,' the man said stepping forward and slapping Charlie on the back. 'Take us home.'

'Where's home?'

'Where's Molly?'

'My place. Our place.'

'You bought the place in Scotland?'

Charlie looked at Hermione with one raised eyebrow.

'Charlie, get us out of here, NOW!' Ginny snapped as the crowd closed in around their heroes.

Grabbing Harry and Maia, while Hermione grabbed Ginny and Helios, Charlie made multiple stop appartition to his new home and let his guests through the wards.

'We're home,' Ginny told Helios as Harry and their daughter stood close.

'I'm home,' Hermione whispered, taking Charlie's hands and wrapping them around her as the couple stood on the waterfront of their castle.

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